The Promise 2
Chapter Two | Lilly

Yawning, I sat up with my Humphrey to my back, still asleep. I placed the fur back to rest behind my ear. It didn't bother me that I had to do that every morning. After doing that every day for the past year, I was beginning to do it without even thinking. Noticing my tongue was dry, I decided to go to the river to get a drink. First, I had to wake up Humphrey and see if he wanted to go with me. Then I heard the waterfall behind me. What the...? Oh, that's right. We were in the cave behind the waterfall. I looked at Humphrey to see him sleeping peacefully. I couldn't bother him right now. He probably needed the rest after all the swimming.

Getting to my paws, I subconsciously groaned with pain. My legs were aching even worse than before I had fallen asleep. I looked to Humphrey, hoping that the groan hadn't woken him. I'm so lucky he's a heavy sleeper. I heard Humphrey shift in his sleep as I turned back around. I stretched my legs. It was as if all I needed was to stretch. The aching wasn't as bad after that, but it only made my legs feel a little better, it wouldn't help completely with sore muscles.

With added strength in my legs, I tested it out by taking a few steps. Still some pain, but it was bearable. It made me wince a little, but at least I wasn't groaning in agony like I had a moment ago. I walked outside, deciding I should see how high the sun was. I found the sun, to find it about half-way between sun rise and high noon. That wasn't too late in the day. Good. As I quietly trotted back to Humphrey, I decided that I should probably wake him up. We were going to have to explain to the others why we didn't make it back yesterday.

Coming up to his side, I was inches away from putting my paw on him to shake him awake. Until I heard two voices coming from the other side of the waterfall. They were a little difficult to hear over the waterfall's roar, but I could still make them out. Hailey and Kovu were calling for me and Humphrey. I hadn't heard them before. How long were they out there? I knew exactly what to do, just for fun. Running towards the water, I dove under the surface, hoping they hadn't heard the splash. What I was going to do needed stealth.

I smiled to myself, which was a little hard to do without letting out the breath I was holding, as I swam towards the shore where the two of them were walking. Their shouting was muffled by the water around me, but I could still hear that they were still calling for me and Humphrey. I pushed myself forward, popping above the water's surface. I came within inches of Hailey's face, and quickly yelled, "BOO!"

Hailey jumped back so much, she almost fell to her back. Kovu was quick to catch her. I floated in the water as Hailey almost yelled at me, "Are you trying to give me a heart attack, Lilly?"

Kovu held out his paw for me, and I grabbed it. He pulled me up as I answered. "Of course not, I would never give you a heart attack. Intentionally."

Kovu asked me, "How long were you even down there?"

"In the water?" I shook my fur dry before answering. "I'd guess about twenty seconds."

"Really? So where were you before that, because we were searching around here for a while," Hailey said.

"In a secret place Humphrey found a few days ago. He showed it to me yesterday."

"Where is this secret place, then?"

I looked to Hailey and smiled at her. "You would like to know. Well, I can't tell you, because then it wouldn't be a secret anymore, now would it?"

Hailey just stared at me a second before smiling. "Fair enough. So, where's Humphrey?"

"Still asleep, I assume. I'm surprised that I'm even awake right now. We were both so sore and exhausted last night," I explained. Kovu and Hailey stood there smiling. In my head, I went over what I just said and realized how it may have sounded. I caught myself. "We were swimming all day and eating fish."

I should have thought through what I was going to say before I actually said it. Knowing Hailey, I knew she was going to tease me about that until she forgot about it. "Uh-huh, sure." Kovu walked past me and took a quick drink of water before turning back to me. "Well, if you'd like, you could wake up Humphrey and we could all have a four-way race. Me and Hailey, you and Humphrey, and Zak and Allie. A couples' race."

I thought over it for a second. A log-sledding race, huh? Interesting. It'd be exciting, for sure. I smiled, "Sounds fun. I'll go get him." I turned back toward the water, and was about to dive in. I stopped myself and looked back at Kovu and Hailey. "You should close your eyes or turn away. I don't want you two seeing where the secret place is."

Kovu and Hailey rolled their eyes before turning around and holding their paws over their eyes. Hailey said, "Fine. Just hurry up and get him."

I took in a deep breath and jumped in the water. The cold feel of the water sent shivers up my spine. I hadn't noticed how cold the water was a moment ago. Maybe it was because I was focused on scaring Hailey. That was great. Feeling a bit more pressure on my back from the water, I realized that I passed under the waterfall. So, I came back above the water's surface... coming straight into a surprise kiss from Humphrey. My eyes went wide with shock, but I had no objections so I just let myself enjoy it. I saw that Humphrey was surprised as well. The two of us remained that way for a moment, neither of us wanting to pull away.

It was usually Humphrey to pull away from the kiss, but I did it this time. I didn't even want to. The water pushed against the rock and came back with a wave, pushing me away from Humphrey. Humphrey held out his paw and laughed, "Well, good morning to you too, beautiful." I grabbed his paw and let him pull me up as he added, "Felt that it was time that you surprised me with that move, Lilly?"

"No, actually... I was just coming back to get you. Kovu and Hailey wanted to know if we wanted to have a log-sled race with them, and Zak and Allie."

"You seriously want to have a race?" he asked. I nodded. "You do know that we'll be speeding down a lot faster than we were yesterday afternoon, right?"

"I'm fine with that," I said with a smile.

"Well, aren't you a little young to be a thrill-seeker?" he said, teasingly.

I smiled at the comment and said, "Why yes, but you made me like this, so it's your fault. Now, do you want to go race, or stay here and get sore again from more swimming?"

"Race," he answered quickly. "I don't think I'll be swimming for quite a while."

"Same here."

Humphrey jumped in the water, and I jumped in after him.

"So... how will we decide who wins if it's a close-call?" I asked everybody, taking my spot in front of Humphrey. Zak and Allie were on our right, Kovu and Hailey on our left. There was about ten feet of space between each log.

Kovu answered the question because nobody else would. "Well, since Aleu and Linda wanted to stay home, we got two other wolves from the pack to judge. It also seems better, because they don't favor any of us over the others."

"Good idea," Humphrey said. "Who'd you pick?"

"We'll introduce you when you get there after us," Hailey said.

That surprised me, because I never saw Hailey as a trash-talker. She must be really confident that they're going to win. I looked back at Humphrey and whispered, "We can beat them."

He smiled and nodded. "Everybody set to go?" Zak asked out loud.

"Ready!" "Ready!" "Ready!" "Ready!" "Ready!" My eyes widened when we all said it at once.

None of us even did a count-down, but somehow we all knew when to begin. All three logs were pushed forward at the same moment. The race had just began and my blood was already pumping through my veins with excitement as the wind rushing past us cooled me off by going through my fur. Humphrey and I were connected. We both leaned back without even speaking. There was less wind resistance that way, allowing us to move faster. I was positive that Humphrey was surprised how I knew to do that. I didn't risk looking back at him to see what he thought. It could make us—

I got my focus back in time to turn left and barely dodge a tree.

Too close. Stay focused, Lilly. For a second, I thought Humphrey said it aloud. I decided not to think about it. Better to stay focused on not crashing into a tree or rock. Or stump. Or log. Or wolf... Or— Focus, Lilly! Good thing my brain yelled at me like that, because a tree-stump was heading toward us. I was about to lean left, until Humphrey said to go right. I wondered why right, but I listened and leaned right. Then I noticed why Humphrey said to go that way.

He was going to have me try another ramp. Hopefully this wouldn't end up like the last time I was airborne.

I clamped my mouth shut so the screams of terror weren't as loud. I'm sure Humphrey must have heard them though. There's no way he couldn't have. I was almost frozen. I didn't want to watch what was going on around me, but I was too terrified to close my eyes. I heard a thump behind me just as we went up the slope. Humphrey must have hit the ground behind us to give us more air time. He was going to pay for doing this...

I took our time in the air to do the thing Humphrey least expected. I looked down. Bad idea. I looked back up, frozen in fear. We weren't that high, maybe ten feet. It still terrified me though. At least I had a good enough look to see where the others were. That was a good thing. Zak and Allie were behind us. Kovu and Hailey weren't that far ahead. We still had a chance at beating them.

Before I knew it, I felt the thud as our log hit ground. I felt a small sting in my paw for a short second, and I winced at the pain, trying not to shout. It was a big shot of pain for two seconds before shrinking to a small sting. I wanted to see what it was, but I couldn't do that while moving at high speed down a hill.

We continued down, racing past the blurs of green, grey, and brown. After taking a look in front of me to make sure there was nothing coming, I chanced a look back to find Zak and Allie. They were closing in on us. A look in front of me, showed me that Kovu and Hailey were moving further ahead. How were they all so fast? Had they been practicing without us knowing? Had they learned some trick to getting less wind resistance that Humphrey and I weren't using? I knew I was going to ask them.

Suddenly, Kovu and Hailey began to slow down a little, coming to the same speed as us when they got to our left side. Zak and Allie closed in on us, coming to our right. That confused me for a second because when we started, both of their logs were on the other side of us than they were right now. They were switched around somehow. It didn't take more than two seconds for me to realize it was from all the turns they took. Humphrey and I had it easy. All we had was a tree and a stump to dodge.

Kovu and Hailey, me and Humphrey, and Zak and Allie were all going to tie if nobody sped up or slowed down... Humphrey didn't bother with leaning back anymore. He just let himself drop as far as he could go. Good idea. I moved my head to the side so it was no longer resting on Humphrey's body. I was resting on wood. Humphrey and I were practically side-by-side, but I was still in front of him because the log wasn't wide enough for me to scoot up towards him. I peeked my head over the side to see that we weren't the only ones making this move. I saw Kovu and Hailey's log, but I didn't see them. Zak and Allie were moving back, not knowing how we were speeding up.

It was either me and Humphrey, or Kovu and Hailey. I looked in front of me to see if the finish line was close. I saw a grey and white wolf. Chloe? Jade? Probably Jade because Kovu and Hailey said they chose someone that wouldn't favor any of us over the other. Chloe probably would've favored Humphrey because they were siblings. The other wolf was one I didn't recognize. All I could make out from them was that they had pure brown fur.

I took another quick peek over at Kovu and Hailey's log. They were slowly moving ahead, inch by minuscule inch. And there was nothing else we could do to go faster. Humphrey and I lay down as we were, and waited. It wasn't as long as I thought it would be before I heard someone call out, "Hailey and Kovu are the winners!"

I sighed, knowing we had lost. But winning didn't matter much to me. What we just went through was the funnest thing I've ever done in my life. Even if I was terrified when we were in the air. Humphrey took control of the log, and turned it enough to make it slide sideways, making it skid into a stop. I almost fell over sideways, but I quickly caught myself but placing my paw on the grass to maintain my balance, which was hard to do because I was a bit light-headed from the sudden change in speed.

I quickly fixed the fur on my head, realizing it was messy now, as Zak and Allie skidded to a stop not far behind us. Allie was laughing. "Oh my gosh! That was so exciting! I've got to do that a— whoa... Okay, now i'm feeling dizzy."

"First-time dizziness. Happens to everyone," Humphrey explained.

"Even i'm not quite used to it," I said.

I blinked a few times to clear my vision from its blurriness. Surprisingly, it worked. I looked back to the two that had called out the winners. I was right about one being Jade. I could tell now because of the green eyes she had. I looked to the mystery pure-brown wolf that was also here. I could see now that he had icy blue eyes. But I didn't linger on the eyes for long. The scar across his face caught my attention. It started on his left ear and ran across his face, going on his nose down to his right cheek without touching either of his eyes.

I wanted to ask what happened to him to get that scar, but figured it was more polite to not ask. Of course, I knew how Kovu got his scars, but this wolf only had one, making me curious. How did he only get one scratch? Usually when someone was scratched by a bear or a wolf, it left at least three scratches. So, what happened?

Kovu must have caught me staring at him, but probably didn't know I was looking at the scar. He said, "Well, I'm sure you two already know Jade."

Humphrey and I smiled at Jade, and shared greetings with one another. Jade added to her greeting, "Hope I'll get to know you two a little better sometime."

Kovu then turned to the brown wolf and said, "And this guy here is Dakota."

"I don't wanna brag, but," he sighed as he said the next part, "I'm pretty strong."

"Yea. For an Omega," Kovu teased.

"Something wrong with being an Omega, dear?"

I almost laughed when I saw Kovu's face at his mate's voice saying that. I had almost forgotten; Hailey was an Omega too! I almost covered my mouth with my paw to keep from laughing, but I was able to keep it from coming out when I cleared my throat. Everyone looked at me, wondering if I had something to say. My quick-thinking helped me out. "Sorry. Dry throat." Not the complete truth, but it was honest. My throat really was dry after all the wind that rushed by me.

I coughed again to make it look good, and Humphrey suggested, "Maybe you should get a drink of water. That might help."

"Guess I should."

"Wait for me when you get there, we can get some more fish."

Humphrey gave me a short kiss on the cheek before I smiled and nodded in agreement. I turned around to begin my lonely walk towards the sound of the waterfall. I stopped when I heard, "Wait!" I turned around to see Jade coming toward me. "I'll come with you. I'm pretty thirsty too."

"All right," I said. "It'll also give us a chance to learn more about each other."

"That's what I was thinking."

I gave Humphrey one last smile before turning around to start talking to Jade. "So, tell me about yourself, Jade..."

The two of us arrived at the waterfall in a matter of minutes. Minutes in which I learned that Jade had been relocated to this territory, but she couldn't remember where she was originally from. When I asked why she couldn't remember, she said that she had been in an accident, and hit her head pretty hard, losing her memories of everything that had happened before that day.

She told me the story of what had happened, and I had learned another thing. She was friends with Chloe. I guess that's how Kovu and Hailey knew her. Why Chloe didn't introduce us to her, I might never find out, but at least we met her. Apparently, she and Chloe had been playing around in the hunting grounds when a stampede began. Jade hadn't been quick enough, and got her head kicked by one of the running caribou, knocked unconscious for almost three days. She said that Chloe told her she had been taken to the pack leaders for help. Jade had been allowed to stay there until she regained consciousness and was able to be on her own again. She told me that she had lived with the pack leaders for almost two weeks.

Jade finished up the story as I took my drink of water. When I realized she was finished, she lowered her head to the water and took a drink as I said, "So, do you have a bruise on your head from the accident?"

"Yea," Jade said, lifting her head back up. "It still hurts when someone touches it too. Real bad."

I don't know why I asked this next question, but I did. "Can I see it?"

I was shocked that I had actually wanted to see the bruise. Jade took a step toward me and lowered her head, pushing the fur on her head forward so I could see the darkened skin. It covered a good portion of the back of her head. I winced when I saw it, and almost backed up, wanting to be careful. For some reason, I wanted to lift my paw and touch it, but I remembered that Jade had told me it hurt when someone touched it. I didn't want to hurt her, so I said, "Yeah, that looks pretty bad."

Jade brought her head back up and smiled. "It's not so bad. It's a great conversation topic. It's proved to work wonders with you, at least."

I laughed, realizing the truth in what she said. Jade suddenly looked up at the sky. I looked to where she was. The sun. It was about mid-day. She said, "I should probably go. It's almost time for the hunt to begin."

"Okay," I said. She took one last drink of water as I added, "I'll see you some other time, then?"

She lifted her head back up. "Of course. And, I'm sorry I used up this whole time talking about myself."

"Oh, that's okay," I said, being polite.

"No, really," Jade said. "Next time we meet, you can talk about yourself all you want. All right?"

I chuckled. "All right, then. Promise you won't fall asleep though."

She laughed. "I promise."

Jade turned and started walking back towards the pack. I turned back toward the water, and started taking a drink. I was going to have to wait for Humphrey now. I was going to be lonely until he got here though.

A paw landed on my shoulder, making me jump. I froze in terror, and almost screamed. I hadn't even heard anybody walk up behind me. Then I realized who it must have been. I laughed at myself. "Wow, Humphrey. You made it here fast—"

I didn't get to finish my sentence. He pushed me in the cold water. I assumed it was just revenge for when I pulled him in the water yesterday. I almost laughed, but I was underwater, and already didn't have much air because of the surprise attack. I immediately started swimming back up toward the surface, knowing what I was going to say to Humphrey when I got there. You could have let me finish my sentence first!

Then I felt his paw holding me underwater. My eyes went wide with fear. What was he trying to do; kill me! As I struggled to get past the paw holding me down, I not only lost oxygen in my lungs, but my fear also grew inside me with each passing second. It suddenly hit me. This wasn't Humphrey. But who was it? I could see past the paw, towards the surface. But the rippling water made it difficult for me to see who was doing this.

My paws frantically tried pushing this wolf's paw out of the way. But I just didn't have the strength. Whoever was doing this was obviously stronger than me. I tried scratching into their leg, but they maneuvered it around my claws, and somehow still managed to keep me under the water's surface. I was losing air quickly. And what made it worse was that I didn't have much air to begin with.

Within seconds, my paws started moving slower. I was getting light-headed from the lack of oxygen in me. My mouth opened, and I tried screaming, but that was just a waste of air. The water muffled my scream enough to where even I couldn't hear it. The bubbles of air escaped me, escaping to the surface. The water flooded inside me, My eyes closed by themselves, and the world around me faded away into darkness.